Return of the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

Happy St. Patty's Day!!! Jeff and I started out our St. Patty's weekend celebrating our dear friends' puppy's 1st birthday. :) Too cute, and sooo funny to watch these pups eat their "pupcakes." 

Then, this morning I took Jeff to the airport at o-dark-thirty, so we found a breakfast place that was open before 6 am... The Five Point Cafe - dive bar and diner, and I can't believe we've never been there before - it's literally down the hill from us... I had a corned beef hash and J had a breakfast burrito. A nice treat before he's gone for a week on a business trip.

OK, now on to those cupcakes. :) This is a repeat recipe from St. Patrick's Day two years ago, and I had a hankering for them again. Since I'm going to Mom and Dad's tonight, I thought I'd contribute the yummy festive goodness. Someday, I will post the story of how I tried a Pinterest trick of making my own green glittery decorating sprinkles. Definitely one for that Pinterest failed project blog... 

I chose to use this Guinness Chocolate Cupcake &  Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting recipe, from Nook & Pantry. Then the Irish Whiskey Chocolate Ganache filling from Smitten Kitten. The recipes for the cupcakes are similar on both sites, but I chose the first one because it went well with the frosting. And the Whiskey Ganache filling just makes these so much more exciting. Because what else do you put in cupcakes made with Guinness, topped with frosting made with Baileys... besides WHISKEY of course!!!! 

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting

2 C unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 C Dutch processed cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 C granulated sugar

1/2 C light or dark brown sugar

4 oz./1/2 C unsalted softened butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 egg

1/2 C sour cream (or greek yogurt)

1 12 fl. oz. bottle/1 1/2 C Guinness or stout beer

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter or line with paper cups two 12-count muffin tins.

In a large bowl briefly whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

Add one egg and beat until evenly mixed and fluffy, make sure to scrape down the mixer bowl once in a while. Add the second egg and vanilla extract and beat again until light and fluffy.

Add the sour cream and beat in, then with the mixer running, slowly pour in the Guinness.

Sift the dry ingredients into the batter and slowly stir the batter until it is evenly mixed and there are no streaks of flour. Make sure to stop the mixer frequently to scrape down the sides and make sure to mix up any flour pockets hidden on the bottom of the bowl.

Divide 1/4 C of batter into each muffin cup, you’ll get about 20 – 24 cupcakes.

Bake at 350 degrees F on the middle rack for 20 – 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake in the middle of the pan should come out clean. Make sure to rotate the pans halfway through baking. Set on a rack to cool to room temperature before frosting.

For layer cakes: baking 25 – 30 minutes, rotate the pans around halfway, a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes should come out clean.

Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8oz. bar of cream cheese, softened

1 4oz. stick of unsalted butter, softened

2 C confectioner’s sugar

4 – 6 Tablespoons of Bailey’s Irish Cream

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, add the cream cheese, butter, and confectioner’s sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Slowly drizzle in the Bailey’s, more or less depending on how boozey you want the frosting, and beat until completely incorporated into the frosting.

Ganache Filling (This will leave you with extra filling, but is that a bad thing? I think not!)

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

2 teaspoons good Irish whiskey 

I decorated mine to look like a tall glass of Guinness with the nice foamy goodness on top... in penguin cupcake wrappers because I'm awesome and ran out of plain foil wrappers. Penguins celebrate St. Patrick's Day, right?!

Also, I have no idea why this text is now showing up weird? It's really because these cupcakes are so important I don't want you to miss the recipe. :) 

White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake

Every year we have a gag gift exchange with my mom's extended family (her dad, and his 2 brother's families). We are lucky enough to all live close, and to be able to keep this tradition alive. There were 32 of us this year!! And it just keeps growing! 

I was tasked with bringing a dessert. :) My favorite. I decided to try this White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake. I was discouraged how this turned out - I told Jeff it looked like Christmas blew up on top of the cheesecake...but everyone (including me) loved it!! I guess don't judge a dessert by its looks?  

Forgive the terrible picture... I can't figure out how to edit the photo within the blog editor. But you can see why I wasn't super excited with how this turned out. I decided last minute to bake a Rum Cake to bring as well, just in case this cheesecake was a flop. Good news: both were a hit, and we snarfed them all up! 

White Chocolate Peppermint Cheesecake
From Midwest Living


8 ounces white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 1-1/3 cups white baking pieces
2 cups finely crushed graham crackers (about 8 ounces)
1/2 cup butter, meltedf
2 8 - ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 3 - ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 8 - ounce carton mascarpone cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup finely crushed hard peppermint candies (such as candy canes or striped round peppermint candies)
2 ounces white baking chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 1/3 cup white baking pieces
Crushed hard peppermint candies (optional)
directions

In a heavy small saucepan, heat and stir the 8 ounces white chocolate over low heat until melted and smooth.  Take care not to scorch the chocolate!! Remove from heat; set aside.
For crust: In a medium bowl, stir together graham crackers and butter until combined. Press crumb mixture firmly onto the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan (do not go up the sides of pan.) Bake in a 325 degree F. oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Cool on a wire rack
For filling: In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, mascarpone, sugar and salt with an electric mixer until combined. Beat in melted chocolate and extract until smooth and combined, scraping sides of bowl. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. Stir in 3/4 cup candy.
Pour filling into crust-lined pan. Place pan in a shallow baking pan. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until a 2-1/2-inch area around the outside edge appears set when gently shaken. [This was hard for me to judge - I let it bake for probably about 60 minutes, and my cheesecake "fell" leaving a taller rim around the edges... so what do you do? Cover it up with melted white chocolate and peppermint, of course!]
Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Using a sharp small knife, loosen the cake from the sides of pan; cool for 30 minutes more. Remove sides of pan and cool completely. Cover cheesecake with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator overnight.
To serve, set the cheesecake on a serving plate (do not remove the cheesecake from the bottom of the springform pan.) Melt the remaining 2 ounces white chocolate in a heavy small saucepan over low heat. Drizzle melted chocolate over cheesecake in a zigzag design. [BWAHAHA - this sentence seems so straightforward - make sure you're using good white chocolate, and keep it warm while you "drizzle", otherwise it will seize up.] If you like, sprinkle top with additional candy. Cut in wedges with a sharp knife dipped in warm water. (To store any remaining cheesecake, cover and chill in refrigerator up to 2 days.)

Pumpkin Cognac Cheesecake

Made this last year for my practicum group while still in the program, and it got rave reviews :) Tried it again for Halloween this year at Grandma's, and again, it was a hit. Think it's a keeper!




Pumpkin Cognac Cheesecake
Originally from: Cool Culinary


2 lbs cream cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp molasses
1 tsp GOOD vanilla + 1/4 cup cognac or brandy
2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup canned Libbys pumpkin (not the pie filling!)
1/4 tsp cinnamon, pinch of cloves, sprinkle of nutmeg + pinch kosher salt

Take a 10′ spring form pan,
Spray the pan w/ non-stick spray. Wrap pan very tightly in aluminum foil all around the bottom & sides.

Pulse a 1/2 box of Famous dark wafer cookies in cuisinart, into a bowl, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter. Press into to the bottom of the pan. Whew the hard part's over!

*You could also make a crust using any chocolate wafer cookies, OR gingersnaps for a twist!

Beat cream cheese until smooth, and LUMP free, scraping bowl frequently, mix in sugars, molasses, vanilla, cognac, eggs, yolks, sour cream, pumpkin &; spices.

Pour into the prepared pan. Set into a pan with tall sides & fill w/ warm water. (I have skipped this step both times I've made it, and it just takes a little longer to bake and you have to watch it carefully to make sure it's baking evenly. Bad, I know! SO don't skip this.)

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Turn off the oven and let sit for another 20-30 minutes. Cake should be set & fairly firm! I stick the blade of a very thin paring knife thru the center, it should come out clean. Your going to cover the top, so don’t worry if you have a few cracks. I usually don’t. Let cool in the water bath. Chill overnight.

Remove foil wrapper, run a hot wet knife around the cake & unmold.

You can press crushed chocolate wafers into the sides or ditto w/ amaretti cookies.

You can cover the top w/fresh whipped cinnamon cream, or white chocolate buttercream or a smooth layer of chocolate ganache or anything else that sounds good to you.

YUM.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie for Jeff

So it's been a while!! There's been a lot going on in the Marcoux household recently. Jeff just graduated from UW with his Master's in Business Administration, and a certificate in Entrepreneurship. Great job babe!!

We also celebrated my sister's graduation from SPU with a degree in Illustration the same weekend! (she's the one on the right, pictured with her roommie and good friend)

So for the joint graduation celebration, I made Jeff's favorite: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. Ultra-fresh rhubarb, and organic strawberries made this one "the best so far," according to Jeff. :)

Enjoy!!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Courtesy of Smitten Kitten

1 recipe of double-crust pie dough of your choice (I use the Better Homes & Garden version)

3 1/2 cups (about 1 1/2 pounds, untrimmed) rhubarb, in 1/2-inch thick slices

3 1/2 cups (about 1 pound) strawberries, hulled and sliced if big, halved if tiny

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup quick-cooking tapioca

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a well-floured counter, roll half of pie dough into a 12-inch circle and carefully transfer to a 9-inch pie plate. (I fold my gently into quarters, to transfer it more easily, then unfold it into the pie plate.)

Stir together rhubarb, strawberries, sugars, lemon, salt and tapioca in a large bowl. Mound filling inside bottom pie crust and dot with bits of unsalted butter. Roll second half of pie dough into an 11-inch circle and transfer it to center over the pie filling. Trim top and bottom pie dough so that their overhang beyond the pie plate lip is only 1/2-inch. Tuck rim of dough underneath itself and crimp it decoratively. Vent the dough by cutting slits in the top or pricking with a fork several times.

Transfer pie to a baking sheet (don't skip this step...or you'll have a fun oven-cleaning adventure later that evening!). Bake for 20 minutes then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 25 to 30 minutes, until the pie is golden and the juices bubble visibly.

Transfer pie to wire rack to cool. When full cool (several hours later - if you can wait that long) the juices gel.

Corned Beef Update!

Corned Beef was a success!!! Unfortunately, so much of a success, I don't have a great picture of everything on one plate!! Oops! But here's some of the final prep process...

~*~

Take the meat out of the bag, and rinse, then pat dry. I debated this step, because I didn't want to wash away all the yummy-ness, but after reading numerous blogs and deciding to trust Bow-Tie Man, I did. It really doesn't take away any of the flavor, after all - it's been soaking in its juices for a week!!

The meat was added to a pot of water, filling the pot 1 inch above meat so it was all covered. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer, and continue to simmer covered for 2-3 hours. Occasionally check, and skim off any foam that rises to the top. Meanwhile, you can clean house, pack up for camping, find some fun Celtic tunes to play, and chop up the veggies you choose. I decided on cabbage (of course), potatoes, onions, carrots, and some brussels sprouts. This pile of veggies did not all fit in the pot, so make sure you have an appropriate sized cooking vessel. :)

The veggies were added to the pot after the meat finished cooking. Place the meat on an oven-safe platter, and put in a 200 degree oven covered with a little bit of the juice, and cover the whole thing in foil. Carrots, potatoes, and onions go in first for 10-15 mins. Then add cabbage and brussels, for another 10-15 minutes. Like the meat, bring to boil, then simmer covered until veggies are cooked.

Irish Soda Bread, courtesy of Katy Bowers. Check out her baking blog! This turned out great - very simple and quick, and tasted amazing after cooking on a cast iron skillet. Just a little flour, salt, baking soda, dash of sugar and buttermilk - yum!

Our final adventure of the evening was these amazing cupcakes. I chose to adapt a couple recipes, because I liked different features of each. I chose to use this Guinness Chocolate Cupcake & Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting recipe, from Nook & Pantry.Then the Irish Whiskey Chocolate Ganache filling from Smitten Kitten, because it seemed too good not to include!

Final verdict:

OOF and YUM!!!

In Process: America's Test Kitchen Corned Beef & Veggies

I hope to try making this for St. Patty's day next week ... glad I looked this up now, because it calls for the meat to sit in the fridge for 5-7 days!! WOW! But I trust America's Test Kitchen and the bow-tie man, as my mom calls him, so we'll see how it turns out!

3/13/11 Update: Finally found some uncured beef brisket at the local meat market on top of Queen Anne. While pricey, I know it will be yummy, and I couldn't find uncured brisket at ANY other local grocery store. While I was there, I had to pick up some of their applewood smoked bacon (oh darn!) and test it out. :)
Meanwhile, the beef is sitting in the fridge, "corning" in all the goodness - can't wait to see how it turns out! One note: don't forget to add the peppercorns - kind of a crucial ingredient in "corned" beef. ;-) I forgot at first, because it required the extra step of trying to crack some of them, but it's easy to open the bag again, and add them (hopefully not too far into the resting process!).

CORNED BEEF

SERVES 8 WITH LEFTOVERS

If you prefer a leaner piece of meat, feel free to use the flat cut. In fact, we found more flat cut than point cut briskets in supermarket meat cases, so you’ll probably have to ask the meat department attendant or butcher to bring you a point cut. Leave a bit of fat attached for better texture and flavor.

The meat is cooked fully when it is tender, the muscle fibers have loosened visibly, and a skewer slides in with minimal resistance.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup kosher salt

1 tablespoon black peppercorns , cracked

3/4 tablespoon ground allspice

1 tablespoon dried thyme

1/2 tablespoon paprika

2 bay leaves , crumbled

1 beef brisket (fresh, 4 to 6 pounds), preferably point cut, trimmed of excess fat, rinsed and patted dry

7-8 pounds vegetables , chosen from the categories below

Category 1 Vegetables

Carrots , peeled and halved crosswise, thin end halved lengthwise, thick end quartered lengthwise

Rutabagas (small), peeled and halved crosswise; each half cut into six chunks

White turnips (medium), peeled and quartered

New potatoes (small), scrubbed and left whole

Boiling onions , peeled and left whole

Category 2 Vegetables

Green cabbage (small head), uncored, blemished leaves removed, cut into six to eight wedges

Parsnips , peeled and halved crosswise, thin end halved lengthwise, thick end quartered lengthwise

Brussels sprouts , blemished leaves removed and left whole

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 1. Mix salt and seasonings in small bowl.
   

2. 2. Spear brisket about thirty times per side with meat fork or metal skewer. Rub each side evenly with salt mixture; place in 2-gallon-size zipper-lock bag, forcing out as much air as possible. Place in pan large enough to hold it (a jelly roll pan works well), cover with second, similar-size pan, and weight with two bricks or heavy cans of similar weight. Refrigerate 5 to 7 days, turning once a day.
   

3. 3. Choose 7-8 pounds of vegetables of your choice from categories 1 and 2, prepared as described in the ingredient listing.

4. 4. Rinse the brisket and pat it dry. Bring the brisket to boil with water to cover by 1/2 to 1 inch in large soup kettle or stockpot (at least 8 quarts), skimming any scum that rises to surface. Cover and simmer until skewer inserted in thickest part of brisket slides out with ease, 2 to 3 hours.

5. 5. Heat oven to 200 degrees. Transfer meat to large platter, ladling about 1 cup cooking liquid over it to keep it moist. Cover with foil and set in oven.

6. 6. Add vegetables from category 1 to kettle and bring to boil; cover and simmer until vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Add vegetables from category 2 and bring to boil; cover and simmer until all vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes longer.

7. 7. Meanwhile, remove meat from oven and cut across the grain into 1/4-inch slices.

8. 8. Transfer vegetables to meat platter, moisten with additional broth, and serve.

9. 9. Serve this dish with horseradish, either plain or mixed with whipped or sour cream, or with grainy mustard.

Caramel Corn

So I had a random craving for caramel corn the other day ... but Jeff and I are trying not to eat a lot of sugar these days. But while he's out of town on his "man weekend," he gave me permission to bake. So I figured I would take the opportunity to bake while I had the time and could choose to do whatever I wanted! :)

Caramel Corn
from Simply Recipes

INGREDIENTS

4-5 quarts popped popcorn (about 2/3 cup unpopped kernels)

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

1 Tbsp molasses

1 teaspoon salt (I used less and it turned out fine)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups salted peanuts (optional)

*I halved this recipe - see note below for cooking times

Heat oven to 225°F. Place popcorn in large roasting pan; set aside.

Combine brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, molasses and salt in a thick-bottomed, 2-quart saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a full boil. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until candy thermometer reaches 250°F or small amount of mixture dropped in ice water forms a hard ball (about 12 to 14 minutes). Remove from heat; stir in baking soda. The caramel will foam up a little and turn a lighter color when you add the baking soda.

(***I halved this recipe, so the cooking time for this mixture was about 9-10 minutes - do not overcook, or you run the risk of scorching your caramel! Pay attention to your nose! I might have cooked my caramel mixture a tad bit too long, so it's not quite as sweet as it could be, but it still turned out okay!)

Carefully pour hot mixture over the popcorn in a large roasting pan. (If you would like peanuts with your popcorn, sprinkle the salted peanuts over the caramel sauce at this point.) Using a wooden spoon, stir until all popcorn is coated. (Be careful not to let the caramel touch you; it's very hot.) Place in oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, stir to more evenly coat the popcorn with the caramel sauce. Return to oven. Continue cooking for 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Immediately spread caramel corn out onto waxed paper. Let cool completely. Break into bite-sized pieces. Store in tightly covered container.

White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

Disclaimer: at first glance of this recipe, I was hesitant. I don't like peppermint much, and I don't like white chocolate, and I didn't anticipate liking them together. I also was not too keen on "adulterating" FUDGE, in all of it's milk chocolatey goodness that I typically imagine. So, I'm not exactly sure what led me to try this recipe, but I am SO thankful - it was super easy, fun, and wow - addicting and delicious. And a major winner with everyone who tried it. WOW!

Enjoy.

White Chocolate Peppermint Fudge

From Crepes of Wrath

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 5 oz. can (2/3 cup) evaporated milk

1 Jar (7 1/2oz) Marshmallow Fluff

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

1 12 oz. package white chocolate chips (the higher the quality, the easier it is for them to melt)

11 candy canes, crushed (as small as possible-this was a great task for including Jeff!)

1. Combine the sugar, salt, butter, evaporated milk, and Fluff in a medium pot and melt together over medium-high heat. When melted, bring to a boil and stir while it boils, so it doesn’t burn, for a full 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add in the vanilla extract, peppermint extract, and white chocolate chips. Return the pot to low heat (the lowest your burner will go) and stir until the white chocolate has melted (white chocolate does not melt as easily as milk or dark chocolate, so you may need to stir a bit more vigorously than you’re used to). Grease a 9×9 or 8×8 pan.

2. When the white chocolate is melted, stir in half of your crushed candy canes, then add in as much as you want, reserving a bit to sprinkle on the very top. Pour into an 8×8 or 9×9 pan (I used a 7 1/2 by 11 1/2 ... strange pan size, but it still works :) No worries). Set aside to cool, and cut the fudge when it is room temperature. Makes 24-28 pieces of fudge.

Again. I'm slacking on the picture-taking... so go here to see what it should look like.

Orange Pound Cake

I found this recipe through my many wanderings of food blogs via StumbleUpon - definitely my weakness. :) You can set your "stumbling" (a.k.a. browsing) topics, and there's a fun little button that says "STUMBLE", and up pops random websites that may or may not intrigue you! The Hungry Mouse blog is a fun one, and it's come up several times in my "stumbling."

I didn't make this recipe recently - I actually made it back with my Blueberry Lemon Glazed Scones for the retreat with my internship this past summer. This was more of a hit than the scones were, actually, so I'm surprised I forgot to post this until now! So here you go - now I want to make it again!

Orange Pound Cake

Cake
13 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened to room temp + more for greasing the pan
3 Tbsp. milk
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups cake flour*
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. grated orange zest (1 large orange should be enough)

Glaze
1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tbls. triple sec, or other orange liqueur

*PLEASE use cake flour - it makes the texture of this pound cake more fine, just like pound cake should be. But you CAN substitute all-purpose flour if you don't already have some cake flour. I admit, this was one of the first recipes I bought cake flour for, and I've used it several times since!

Yields 1 loaf

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a glass loaf pan and set aside. Zest your orange - be careful to avoid the white layer beneath the top, orange layer. Whisk together your eggs, milk, vanilla in a bowl. Put flour, sugar and baking powder in a bowl, the bowl of your standmixer, whatever you have. Toss in the orange zest and mix on low until zest is incorporated. Cut the butter into tablespoons, and with mixer on low, toss in one piece of butter at a time, and mix until it's completely incorporated. Repeat until all butter is incorporated - your dough should go from looking like small crumbs, to a more moistened mass. Now, slowly pour in the egg/milk mixture, with mixer on low. Mix until all is added, and batter *just* comes together. (It will still be a little "mealy" looking - DON'T overmix. Long story short - gluten. too much mixing. tough cake. bleh.) Pour batter into your pan, and bake for 55-60 minutes. Start checking at 30 minutes, and cover edges with foil if it looks like it's browning too fast.

Glaze: Put sugar, orange juice, and orange liqueur in 1 quart, heavy-bottomed pot. Over medium-high heat, whisk until sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to boil, mixing often. Watch closely - it will boil over if you get distracted. :) Oops... Boil until reduced by about half - until it's thick and syrupy. Yum.

Release cake carefully from the pan, and set on cooling rack (with several paper towels underneath). Poke holes in the cake (just like the Rum Cake technique!) with a fork, skewer, thin sharp knife, so the glaze can sink into the cake. Pour the glaze on the still-warm cake, or brush on with a basting brush. Go slow, so the glaze has time to sink into the holes. Cool cake to room temperature before slicing.

Again, [imagine yummy-looking photo here]. I didn't take one. But you can look here at The Hungry Mouse's version.

Holiday Cookies

America's Test Kitchen Holiday Cookies

From the Family Baking Cookbook

While labor intensive, these are absolutely the best sugar cookies, ever!!! I can't go back to a normal recipe...the cream cheese is life changing - makes the cookies tender, soft and not as "sugary" tasting. And with the cream cheese in the icing, it makes it thicker and easier to spread and set - also keeps the cookies moist. Yum!

Superfine sugar will give your cookies a finer crumb and crisper texture. If you can't find it in the supermarket, simply process about 1 cup granulated sugar in a food processor for about 30 seconds, then measure out ¾ cup for the recipe. The dough scraps can be patted together, chilled and re-rolled one time only.

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup superfine sugar (see note above)

¼ teaspoon salt

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened

2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Whisk the flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Beat the butter into the flour mixture, one piece at a time, using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, then continue to beat until the mixture looks crumbly and slightly wet, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the cream cheese and

vanilla until the dough just begins to form large clumps, about 30 seconds.

2. Knead the dough in the bowl by hand a few times until it forms a large, cohesive mass. Turn

the dough out onto a clean counter, divide it in half, and pat into two 4-inch disks. Wrap the

disks tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until they begin to firm up, 20 to 30 minutes.

3. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Working with

one disk of dough at a time, roll out the dough to a 1/8-inch thickness between 2 sheets of

parchment paper. Slide the rolled dough and parchment onto a baking sheet and refrigerate

until firm, about 10 minutes.

4. Working with one sheet of dough at a time, cut out shapes using cookie cutters and lay on two

parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced about 1 inch apart. Bake the cookies until light golden

brown, about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking. (While the first

batch of cookies bakes, cut out cookies from the second sheet of dough and bake them while

the first batch cools.)

5. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack

to cool completely, about 30 minutes. When cooled, the cookies can be glazed and decorated

as desired.

Easy all-purpose glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

3 TB whole milk
2 TB cream cheese, softened

*Add flavorings, and colorings as desired.

Christmas Rum Cake

We had a Christmas party for my MFT program, and were invited to bring our favorite holiday baked goods ... and the winner is - Rum Cake!! I remember having this growing up, as my Grandma would make this every Christmas eve. Not everyone would get as excited as I did about the Christmas Rum Cake... but I think Rose last night shared in my joy :) So, for Rose ... here's the recipe straight from the Duncan Hines site, since it's made with good ol' yellow cake.

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

1 package yellow cake mix (**)

1 (3 3/4-oz.) package Jell-O vanilla instant pudding and pie filling

4 eggs

1/2 cup cold water

1/2 cup Canola Oil

1/2 cup Bacardi dark rum (or any kind - I used a splash of Black Strap Rum, and the remainder Captain Morgan's Spiced Rum)

Glaze:

1 stick butter

1/4 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup Bacardi dark rum (again, any type is fine - I used all Cap'n Morgan)

** If using yellow cake mix with pudding already in the mix, omit the instant pudding, using 3 eggs instead of 4 and 1/3 cup oil instead of 1/2.

Glaze:

Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in water and sugar.

Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, and remove from heat.

Stir in rum.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Grease and flour 10-inch tube or 12-cup Bundt pan.

Sprinkle nuts over bottom of pan (optional)

Mix all cake ingredients together.

Pour batter over nuts.

Bake 1 hour.

Cool; invert onto serving plate. Prick top with fork (many many times!! This creates all sorts of little holes for the yummy glaze to soak into. Don't be shy!)

Spoon and brush glaze evenly over top and sides.

Eat up! I don't have a picture because this was gobbled up way too fast! But I'll make another one soon, I'm sure... :)